Psychoanalysis Of Hamlet's Mind

Psychoanalytic Criticism Of Hamlet
Psychoanalytic criticism uses the methods of psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud. Our
selfish, realistic, and moral thoughts, known by Freud as the Id, ego, and superego, can be
showed in the story of Hamlet. Hamlet's actions and decisions throughout the play, show his
constant state of mind as conflicting with itself. The psychoanalytic critic will also see Hamlet's
longing for his mother and his uncertainty towards this father. Through the psychoanalytical lens
in Hamlet, one sees the superego, action and inaction, and the Oedipal complex Hamlet. The first
component of the personality is the Id, which is present from birth and is driven by the pleasure
principle, which is the immediate satisfaction for the desires, wants, and needs. Hamlet displays
Id throughout the play, because of his desire to kill his uncle, his want to get revenge for his
father, and his need to kill him to balance what his uncle has done. The second component of the
personality is the ego, which is responsible for dealing with reality. The ego weighs the costs and
benefits of an action before deciding to act on the impulse. Hamlet appears to be an ego at the
beginning of the story as he reacts to events as a average person would. His father dying causing
him to grieve is very normal. As the play continues, he begins to become more towards the Id side
as he begins to follow his own plans regardless of other feelings. The superego, is one way that
Hamlet can be interpreted through a
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Psychoanalysis And Psychoanalysis
On Humanism and Psychoanalysis
The following essay is an interpretive analysis of Psychoanalysis and Humanism as two influential
schools of thought in Psychology. In this essay, the main assumptions of each school of thought will
be highlighted, starting with Psychoanalysis followed by Humanism. Furthermore there will be a
comparative analysis of both schools of thoughts based on both their strength and weaknesses, in
attempt to find where the two complement each other and more over to see where the two schools of
thought come into dispute with one another particularly on the basis of Humanism being reaction to
psychoanalysis
The Psychoanalytic approach to human behaviour was founded by Sigmund Freud – neurologists
who believed that the key...show more content...
As an antithesis to psychoanalysis, Humanism also purports that humans are free agents that are
capable of self actualizing. However, psychoanalysis provides an interesting basis to understanding
how humans interact with the reality around them especially in attaching symbols to dreams,
ignoring the fact of sexual urges. The problem is that Freud presents humans as incapable of being
autonomous or interacting with the environment in order to have certain metal illnesses – Freud
trivializes anxiety. The negative aspect of humanism, which can be linked to psychoanalysis, is that
the focus is primarily on the individual and not the community that filters in more factors that
contribute to the personality, illness or well being of the individual.
The main focus of psychoanalysis is viewing the development and behaviour of a human being as
processes that are guided by unconscious conflict that threatens to come to the surface manifest a
sexual desires, it does however negate the fact that humans are capable of agency. Humanism on the
other hand emphasizes self–actualization, and views humans as inherently good, individual agents
who are responsible for their own well being. Humanism is however, highly individualistic. Both
schools of thought, despite their shortfalls have contributed significantly to the science and practice
of

Psychological criticism is known as the type of criticism that analyses the writer's work within the
realms of Freud's psychological theories. Such approach can be used when trying to reconstruct an
author's position throughout their literary writings, as well as understanding whom the author was
and how their mind created such works. When considering the work of Emily Dickinson,
psychoanalytic criticism comes into play with the role of explaining the many meanings behind her
poetry, as to make the reader relate to such poetry on a deeper level or not to who she was as a
human being. Many critics believe that using a psychological criticism approach to understand an
author's literary work leaves common sense behind. For them, such analysis...show more content...
However, because the reader has not spent time with Emily Dickinson for the obvious reason that
she is no longer alive, there is no concrete way to prove their newfound theory. And by not being
able to prove it, the reader is left with a half–truth of his proposal that ultimately is not strong
enough. Analyzing an author's work, such as Emily Dickinson's for example, from the positions
of the critics cited above, the reader is compelled to believe that even though her poetry can help
create an image of whom she was, it cannot be used as the sole source of argument to establish
why she wrote her poems. When considering a poem like "There's a certain slant of light," the
reader may use approaches such as biographical and historical criticism to find a meaning to the
poem, resulting that if psychoanalytic criticism is applied, many of the meanings can be left to the
unconscious. For example, when Dickinson exemplifies "Heavenly Hurt, it gives us– We can find no
scar," (554) the reader has no grounds over what to base their interpretation, given Dickinson could
be referring to how her religious beliefs brought her piece, as well as representing a struggle with
her own faith. Besides all

Throughout history, the release of literary pieces have contributed drastic changes to humans and
storytelling. While dissecting a literary piece, finding a familiar face, line, or plot isn't uncommon.
As people are easily influenced, so are the creation of stories. The novel Frankenstein written by
Mary Shelley as a whole, observed carefully, presents an intriguing analysis, rooting from stories
such as Genesis and Prometheus; revolving around themes of love, knowledge, and. Additionally,
when the text is taken into consideration concerning Psychoanalytic criticism, Frankenstein's creation
reveals a deeper source of purpose on his actions, even tracing back to the days his existence began.
To begin, certain aspects of Psychoanalytic criticism presents itself throughout the entire story,
allowing the reader to analyze the causation of the actions Frankenstein's creation executes. The
monster's actions are caused by the lack of experience of the imaginary order, a process those
with parents experience and eventually slip out of as time passes. "Lacanian theory holds that we
all suffer from "lack" because nothing can ever satisfy the desire one holds to return to what he
terms "the imaginary order" represented by the mother" (Brackett). In Frankenstein's situation he
is denied this order due to the lack of companionship and love. His first moments of life distanced
immensely from perfection as the creation states, " I was poor, helpless, miserable wretch; I knew,
and could distinguish, nothing; but feeling pain invade me on all sides, I sat down and wept"
(Shelley 91). The first moments of the creatures life encompassed fear, abandonment, and a
deficiency of a sense of togetherness. When the creation exists in absence of this experience, "s[he]
is doubly cursed with the inability to return to an order s[he] never experienced", leading him to
recognize how utterly abandoned and alone he was (Brackett). Frankenstein emphasizes this
isolation to Victor when he states, "Satan had his companions, fellow devils, to admire and
encourage him; but I am solitary and abhorred" (Shelley 118). This imaginary order which remains
as an unexposed factor in Frankenstein's creations' life begets the creature to metamorphose from

Psychoanalytic Criticism In Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man thoroughly portrays the issues of the thirties still prevalent
today. This was a time period characterized heavily by the efforts of World War II, segregation, and
strive towards advancements. People of color faced harsh treatment from whites who ruled
American society. They were and continue to be a big chunk of the gears that help the country
advance and improve. Without their knowledge, skills, and hard work the nation could not have
been as well renowned as it is today. Ellison takes the reader on a journey through the thirties from
the eyes of a young man seeking his identity in the harsh world. We observe the many obstacles
and difficult decisions he is forced to make. These matters are analyzed through a variety of
theories in chapters five through ten including psychoanalytic criticism, new historicism, and
marxism. Psychoanalytic criticism is derived from psychoanalysis; a theory founded by Sigmund
Freud during the late eighteen hundreds. It is based off of the concept that all forms of literary
texts reveal hidden fears, concerns, and aspirations of the writer. This theory is the supporting base
for literary analysis, allowing the discovery of deeper meanings of the text. In the novel Invisible
Man, the author Ralph Ellison expresses his conscious and unconscious anxiety in regards to the
difficult affairs still heavily prevalent today. These include the issues ofracism, ideology, and power
and their impact on an

Psychoanalytic Criticism In Frankenstein
Many people have the fear of becoming too emotionally close with someone. This fear, for most,
can be defined in a paper about psychoanalytic criticism written by Louis Tyson. Psychoanalytic
criticism is a method of reading that uses ideas of psychology from Sigmund Freud. The book by
Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, resembles many messages from different points of view, which in this
case is analyzed with a psychoanalytic lens. Using the psychoanalytic notion of projection, the
monster in Shelley's book can be understood as a representation of human anxieties in regards to
the tendencies of science, and the fears that Victor Frankenstein has of himself. Different
characteristics of the creature can be represented by Victor's own fears. This is defined as a
doppelganger, which is a look–alike of a person, which normally is represented as evil or ghostly,
and although Victor and the creature don't look alike, they do in a mental sense. Significantly, the
creature's characteristics are directly influenced by the unconscious fears of Victor.
Victor's fear of intimacy causes his creature to be lonely. His negativity towards the creature is a
manifestation of his fear of intimacy. Victor's perception of the creature changed after its birth
causing him to run away. Victor is so lonely and pathetic that the only way to make a friend is by
sewing body parts together and bringing it to life. The relationship Victor wanted was to be friends
with the monster. As opposed to a beautiful man

Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Freud
discovered that most of our actions are motivated by psychological forces over which we have very
limited control. One of Freud's most important contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory
of repression: the unconscious mind is a repository of repressed desires, feelings, memories, wishes
and instinctual drives. A principal element in Freud's theory is his assignment of the mental
processes to three psychic zones: the id, the ego and the superego. Freud's theories have launched
what is now known as the psychoanalytic approach to literature. Looking at Heart of Darkness from
this approach, Heart of Darkness explores something more...show more content...
In the novel, Conrad draws an image of Africa as the "other world," the antithesis of a civilized
Europe, a site where man's accumulated years of education and sophistication are confronted by a
striking savagery. The story opens on the River Thames, calm and peaceful. It then moves to the
very opposite of the Thames, and takes place on the River Congo. However, It's not the flagrant
difference between the two that perplexes Conrad but the underlying allusion of intimate
relationship, of "common ancestry," since the Thames was itself a dark place, but one that has
managed to civilize, to enlighten itself and the world, and is now living in the light. The peaceful
Thames, however, runs the terrible risk of being stirred by its encounter with its "primordial relative,
the Congo;" it would witness the reflection of its own forsaken darkness and would hear the sounds
that echo its remote gloomy history. The Thames would fall victim to the ghastly reminiscences of
the irrational frenzy of the primitive times (Achebe 262–3). Marlow, a man of discipline and justice,
was expecting such values to exist elsewhere. They became a kind of psychological expectations.
Marlow discovers that not all men share his belief in an orderly, fundamentally good society. His
journey is full of elements of absurdism, elements that hint at a world that is suddenly irrational and
out of focus. Marlow is fascinated by the

Sons And Lovers : Psychoanalytic Criticism Essay
Sons and Lovers: Psychoanalytic Criticism
David Herbert Lawrence was born September 11, 1885 in a small coal mining village in
Nottingham, England. He was the fourth child of Arthur and Lydia Lawrence. Arthur was a coal
miner who worked in the mine from age ten until he was sixty–six. Lydia the more educated out of
the two was born into a lower–middle class family; this changed when her father suffered a
financial disaster. She passed down to her sons the profound desire to move out of the working class
by expressing her dissatisfaction with her husband's dead job combined and his drinking habits.
Sons and Lovers is an eye opening, semi–biographical novel written by D.H Lawrence, an English
writer from the United Kingdom. The novel was D.H Lawrence's third book published in 1913 by
Gerald Duckworth and Company in London, England. Sons and Lovers is about a young boy
named Paul (based off of D.H Lawrence), who grows up to become a man who is plagued by his
emotional connection to his mother, which impacts his ability to form lasting relationships with
other women. The book can be best understood using the psychoanalytic lens because many events
and characters in the book are based on people in Lawrence's life.
Psychoanalytic criticism is a method of interpreting text that developed by Sigmund Freud that tells
the reader about how literacy text is formed and the meaning of the formation. This criticism claims
that literature is ambiguous, having a conscious (surface

Essay Psychoanalytic Criticism
Psychoanalytic Criticism
Introduction
The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud spent much of his life exploring the workings of the
unconscious. Freud's work has influenced society in ways which we take for granted. When we
speak of Freudian slips or look for hidden causes behind irrational behavior, we are using aspects of
Freudian analysis. Many literary critics have also adopted Freud's various theories and methods. In
order to define Freudian literary criticism, we will examine how various critics approach Freud's
work. We will pay special attention to issues of creativity , author psychology , and
psycho–biography .
Creativity and neurosis
Many of us may be familiar with the notion that creativity is intertwined with...show more content...
Elaborating on this opinion, some critics have wondered to what extent the creative process springs
only from those thoughts in the unconscious which result from neurosis. The critic Edmund Wilson
has addressed this question in his book The Wound and the Bow. Wilson discusses creativity and
neurosis in terms of the playwright Sophocles, and the writers Andr Gide and John Jay Chapman,
and the attention paid by all three to the tale of the Greek warrior Philoctetes. The tale is about the
nobility of those who suffer on the outskirts of society, and about a society which at the same time
needs and rejects these outcasts. Wilson proposes "the idea that genius and disease, like strength and
mutilation, may be inextricably bound up together" (289). Wilson notes that these three writers who
have shown interest in the noble and suffering Philoctetes themselves all suffered from a type of
neurosis (289, 293).
Author psychology
As Wilson's comments suggest, the question of creativity can lead us to focus on the psychology of
the author. Such a focus might suggest that a text helps to explain the life and concerns of an author
and vice versa. For example, Edmund Wilson argues that Sophocles wrote the play Philoctetes
because he identified with the character. Both Sophocles and Philoctetes experienced madness,
Wilson

Heart of Darkness: Psychoanalytic Criticism
Psychoanalytic criticism originated in the work of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud, who
pioneered the technique of psychoanalysis. Freud developed a language that described, a model that
explained, and a theory that encompassed human psychology. His theories are directly and indirectly
concerned with the nature of the unconscious mind. Through his multiple case studies, Freud
managed to find convincing evidence that most of our actions are motivated by psychological
forces over which we have very limited control (Guerin 127). One of Freud's most important
contributions to the study of the psyche is his theory of repression: the unconscious mind is a
repository of repressed desires,...show more content...
And though a large part of the ego is unconscious, it nevertheless includes what we think of as the
conscious mind.
The superego is a projection of the ego. It is the moral censoring agency; the part that makes moral
judgments and the repository of conscience and pride. It brings reason, order and social acceptability
to the otherwise uncontrolled and potentially harmful realm of biological impulses (Guerin 128–31).
Freud's theories have launched what is now known as the psychoanalytic approach to literature.
Freud was interested in writers, especially those who depended largely on symbols. Such writers
tend to tinge their ideas and figures with mystery or ambiguity that only make sense once
interpreted, just as the analyst tries to figure out the dreams and bizarre actions that the
unconscious mind of a neurotic releases out of repression. A work of literature is thus treated as a
fantasy or a dream that Freudian analysis comes to explain the nature of the mind that produced it.
The purpose of a work of art is what psychoanalysis has found to be the purpose of the dream: the
secret gratification of an infantile and forbidden wish that has been repressed into the unconscious
(Wright 765).
The literal surface of a work of literature is sometimes called the "manifest content" and treated as
"manifest dream" or "dream story." The psychoanalytic literary critic tries to analyze the latent,
underlying content of the work, or the "dream thought" hidden in

Psychoanalytic criticism is built upon Sigmund Freud's psychological theories of the unconscious,
the desires, and the defenses. The father of psychoanalysis began his work in the 1880's, treating the
chaos of hysteria first, listening to his patients talk through their problems. From his studies, he
came to conclusion that a person's behavior is affected by their unconscious, "...the notion that
human beings are motivated, even driven, by desires, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are
unaware..." (Purdue University). Freud conserved that our desires and our unconscious conflicts
induce our three areas of the mind that grapple with our dominance as we grow from infancy, to
childhood, to adulthood. The id being known as "...the house of the drives", the ego, "...one of the
major defenses against the power of the drives..." (Purdue University), and the superego, being the
point of the unconscious that houses judgment. Freud's psychoanalytic theory of human personality
asserts that human behavior is the outcome of interactions made among the three component parts of
the mind: the id, ego, and superego. That being said, this "structural" theory of personality
emphasizes great importance on how conflicts among the parts of the mind shape behavior and
personality, mainly being unconscious. An example ofpsychoanalysis is going to the psychiatrist
office for constantly getting into arguments with your husband. Through discussion the therapist
analyzes the

My Psychoanalytic Views of Two Short Stories
Psychoanalysis In order to understand the true meaning of some stories we must understand the
what psychoanalysis is. Psychoanalysis was thought up by a man know as Sigmund Freud also
know as the Founding Father of Psychoanalysis. Being a major cocaine addict, his theories were
often ridiculed and were thought to be perceived as hallucinations as a result of the cocaine use.
Freud's theories however sparked an all new era of Psychology. Although Freud's theories seemed
very radical, when put into life situations they actually make perfect sense. Psychoanalytic Literary
Criticism refers to literary criticism or literary theory which, in method, concept, or form, is
influenced by the tradition of psychoanalysis begun by Sigmund Freud....show more content...
Using the staff to show this works symbolically, but it does not address the sexual aspect of Freud's
theory. Young Goodman Brown uses the staff as a phallic symbol to symbolize the sexual urges
Brown experiences in his fight to remain faithful. In his defeat, the staff exposes the conflict
underneath of good and evil as another fight altogether. This battle actually compliments the struggle
between God and Satan. It is the fight of purity and holiness of the spirit in conflict against the
lustful wants and corruptive thoughts of the mind and body. In Freudian terms, it is the struggle for
supremacy between the id and superego. Ultimately, Goodman Brown allows his id to dominate the
ego, which also allows the forces of evil to win. Young Goodman Brown uses the text to expose
human corruptibility and moral impurity. Without these faults, however, there could be no humanity,
and without the guiding light of God, humanity would have nothing for which to hope and pray.
The Red Death, a disease that has plagued the country where the The Masque of The Red Death
takes place. It causes its victims to die quickly and gruesomely. Although the disease is running
rampant throughout the land, Prince Prospero feels happy and hopeful. He decides to lock him and
his friends in the castle to ward off the disease, ignoring the rest of the population. After several
months have passed,

This essay will analyze the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. The poem will be analyzed by
the Psychoanalytic Criticism, mourning and melancholia theory by Freud with the purpose to
analize the persona and the symbols that the poem presents.
The Raven,by Edgar Allan Poe, is a gothic poem that shows the persona sorrow and grief for the
lost lover Lenore. The persona in the poem almost sleeping is reading a book to forget the death of
Lenore, while this happens the persona hears someone trying to enter his chamber. It is possible
that the persona has dreamed all the things he describes in the poem. The first stanza shows a tired
and weak persona that is almost napping so, it is not certain that he is awake while this whole
episode happpened....show more content...
"
But, in the fifth stanza there is something or someone that does not let him forget Lenore.
"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,
Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,
And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore?"
This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"– Merely this, and nothing more. "
The poem, The Raven, contains some symbols that must be discussed. This symbols have signifcant
meaning to the poem and makes the reader understand more about the personas sorrow and grief.
According to Morris , In this essay, Freud lays down the basic perspective that classical
psychoanalysts after him have continued to take on literary work: a literary work satisfies
unfulfilled,partially unacceptable and therefore unconscious wishes in a disguised fashion. The
literary work cantains symbols wich must be understood, and according to Freud, psychoanalysis is
able to reveal the meanings of theses

Psychoanalytical Criticism
Psychoanalytical criticism is a form of literary critique, which uses some of the techniques of
psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature. Lacanian critics examine psychoanalytic phases
such as the Symbolic and apply this phase while interpreting literary texts. Lacanian critics also
associate the literary work's content to broader Lacanian concepts, such as the Phallic and the Other.
The focus of this essay is to apply these psychoanalytical techniques while interpreting Lady
Macbeth's character in William Shakespeare's play Macbeth. However, before I begin my argument, I
feel that Lacan's concepts of psychoanalytical theory need some introduction.
One of the more prevalent psychoanalytical theorists since Freud was Jacques...show more content...
When William Shakespeare's dark tragedy Macbeth was written in London in the beginning of the
seventeenth century, noble masculine traits included valor, authority, and undaunted aggression. On
the other hand, noble feminine ideals was related to virtue, temperance, and obeying her husband's
desires–the phrase: "yes, my lord" was extremely common in Shakespeare's time while wives
spoke with their husbands regarding his desires. In this sense, men were awarded for their violent
actions, as witnessed by Macbeth's reward of the Thane of Cawdor for his bloody actions on the
battlefield, while a woman's behavior must adhere to the strict code of feminine compliance.
However, in Macbeth the cultural standards of appropriate femininity are in complete and utter
disarray because of Shakespeare's controversial character, Lady Macbeth. Scholars have
traditionally read Lady Macbeth's "evil" temperament as a form of confirmation of her attempt to
seize power to further her husband's and her political goals. However, I argue that gender roles play a
significant role determining Lady Macbeth's dialogue and actions. I contend that Shakespeare' s
Macbeth exposes the intricate dynamics of gender and power through the representation of a
merciless Lady Macbeth who imitates the violent practices of a masculine culture through her
rejection of her own desires in favor of the desires of the Other. Alfar elaborates on the concept of
gender roles and performance. She claims:

Psychoanalytic Criticism In Shakespeare's Hamlet
The Psychoanalytic theory is enclosed by two opposed critical theories. The first view focuses on the
text, with no outside influences. The second view focuses on the author of the text. According to this
theory, someone can understand the work by examining conflicts, and other literary devices.
However, with an outside perspective, one can further understand that outward behavior can conflict
with inner desires acknowledged and not acknowledged. Through William Shakespeare's play Hamlet
there are many examples found to support this theory. When looking through the Psychoanalytic
lens, it reveals that Hamlet has fundamental urges that cannot be seen through the course of the play
which shows the energy taken to repress those urges.
There are three essential parts of the subconscious, which makes the largest part of the human
personality. In this category, there is the Id, the superego, and the ego. Primarily Id is the basic
desire, where there is no sense of conscious. This is conveyed in Hamlet when he feels the urge to
kill other people as well as commit suicide "To be, or not to be" (I.ii.169). The superego is the
establishment of all socially imposed behavior and sense of guilt. In Hamlet his superego provides
morals and principles which prevent him from committing immoral sins, "Thus conscience does
make cowards of us all, And thus the native hve of resolution". (I.ii.170) Lastly ego is reality, it
struggles to achieve a balance between the other parts of the

Essay about Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism
I strongly believe that every person who reads a book, listens to the radio, or watches a
program on television will make their own assumptions. I know I do. Most of us will ask, "Why
did the main character make that decision?" Or "What were they thinking?" Could it be that the
author of the story is protruding their own subconscious thoughts and beliefs through their
characters? Absolutely, most critics have adapted psychoanalytic literary criticism theory based
upon the works of psychoanalysis by famous psychologists Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and
Jacques Lacan to literary works. 'Psychoanalytic literary criticism does not constitute a unified
field....However, all variants endorse, at least to a certain...show more content...
"To discover [the author's] intention . . . I must
first discover the meaning and content of what is represented in his work; I must, in other words,
be able to interpret it" (Freud 212). The analysis is of the author, characters, audience and text. "A
Woman Like Me' written by Xi Xi from Hong Kong, in 1982 is about a woman who lied to her
boyfriend about her profession because she was afraid she would lose him. Her fear came about
when her aunt, the woman who taught her everything she knows about her profession explained her
own past when the man she loved left her for being a mortuary cosmetician. In "Swaddling Clothes"
written by Mishima Yukio from Japan in 1966, a young woman is haunted by fresh memories of her
unwedded wet nurse who gives birth in her home.
The vision of the child who is wrapped in newspaper by the doctor drives her to obsess about the
child's future. And lastly, "The Necklace" written by Guy de Maupassant from France in
1884, pertains to a woman who is unhappy with her life. She and her husband gets to attend a high
end social, in order to look her best she borrows what she thinks is an expensive necklace.
Soon after leaving the ball she discovers she loses the necklace. Thus, begins a ten year struggle to
replace the item.
In psychoanalyzing literary characters it's said that the characters are usually projections
of an author's own psyche. The theory is used to analyze the

Psychoanalysis In English Literature
Psychoanalysis applied to English Literature material
During this semester, we studied many English literature theories. We started with New Criticism
and ended last week with cultural studies. By far, the most interesting one for me was
Psychoanalysis because it helped me understand the possible reasons behind actions and behaviors.
Sometimes we read literature without even thinking why things unfold the way they do but after
reading the psychoanalysis theories by Sigmund Freud along with some readings by Parker and
Tyson I have found myself understanding texts differently. I am going to expose how
psychoanalysis relates to the following texts: A&P short story, Passing by Nella Larsen,The Great
Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald and the movie The Crying Game by Neil Jordan.
First, in the A&P story by John Updike we can see how Sammy experiences projection when he
starts taking it on his boss. Apparently, he is overwhelmed by his job but getting mad at him for
treating three girls in a mean way is not the main reason why he chooses to quit, I believe his real
motive is the unhappiness of being a young adult who has not done much with his life. He is stuck
at this store and wants to get out but might not know how. I also think that Sammy does not have a
clear idea of self because he is defined by what he does not want to be. For instance, he does not
want to be like his coworker Stokesie or his manger Lengel nor his parents who seem to be poor.
The concept of self is clearly

Poe and Psychoanalytic Criticism Essay
The School of Psychoanalytic Criticism "The Cask of Amontillado" and its author Edgar Allan Poe
are excellent references for applying psychoanalytic interpretations to an author and his work.
Psychoanalytic criticism uses a Freudian theory of a three level psyche, the ego, the super–ego, and
the id to gain a better understanding of the deeper or hidden meaning within literature and an
understanding of the psychological identity of the author, the characters or the reader. Freud
theorized that our psyche has three levels. The ego is the rational part of our psyche known as the
consciousness. The super–ego is the part of our psyche that is dictated by the values of first our
parents and then later society known as the conscience. The...show more content...
Poe lost his mother at a young age and then was abandoned by his father. He then was adopted by
a wealthy merchant with an iron fist. Taking this into account critics might theorize that his inner
competition to please his father but also be a writer was repressed and then manifested itself in
this short story, where his father is Fortunato, walled away leaving him free to pursue his literary
career. This could also be a metaphor for when he broke all ties to his adopted father. Freudian
theory deals with the premise that some of our desires, wishes, fears and memories may be hard
to cope with and so we eliminate it from our conscious mind through repression. "But this doesn't
make it go away: it remains alive in the unconscious, like radioactive matter buried beneath the
ocean" (Barry 96). Fortunato is buried alive deep in the catacombs beneath the river where
poisonous nitre grows. This is a clever use of symbolism and metaphors to demonstrate the burying
of our darkest human motives, walling them up to hide from our ego or conscious being, hence
repression is born. "My heart grew sick–on account of the dampness of the catacombs. I hastened to
make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new
masonry I reerected the old ramport of bones. For half a century no mortal has disturbed them" (Poe
62) Infantile sexuality is a Freudian concept

Psychoanalytic Criticism Of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe work can be related to allot of literature criticisms, but it is most familiarized
with psychoanalytic criticism and New Historicism because the stories he wrote had allot to do
with the mind and how people would behave also he wrote stories based off old history and
beliefs. Psychoanalytic criticism deals with the mind of the characters. Poe's work relates most to
psychoanalytic criticism because he wrote allot of short stories that dealt with the mind of killers
and how certain situations would affect a person's behavior and the influence it had on them which
lead to horrible murders and disasters. His work can also relate to New Historicism as he
implanted historical events that caused death amongst individuals and made stories based off it. Poe
often wrote things that no one else had the courage to do because back then they would be
considered insane and deviant. Stories like the "black cat", "The tell– tale heart", "The masque of
the red death", and "Morella" all deal with horror, murder, and sudden death. The short story, 'The
black cat' gives the audience a story line visual of the mind of an alcoholic and the way his
behavior changes over time, in different scenarios the character starts to turn abusive to the
animals that he once loved. The man then starts to isolate himself from the black cat which was
his favorite animal until one day he snaps and kills the black cat by hanging it to a tree with a
rope. Days later a cat comes back around him that shows almost the same identity of the black cat,
but the only difference is the white patch which is the bottom part of the cat body. the man then
starts to grow jealous as his wife shows attention to the new cat which then leads him to murder
his wife and stuffing her dead body in a wall, he later confesses to the crime and spends life in
prison. This story is very dark and gives a clear identification of the mind of a troubled individual
who then takes out his anger by being abusive to the animals in his environment and later his wife.
Different aspects in Poe's stories look deep into the mind of a person and the reasons that leads to
murder and death. Furthermore, Poe used words and had a story line that would automatically give an

Psychoanalytic Criticism Of Catch 22
Reading a narrative from a psychoanalytic perspective can prove to be a sometimes frustrating
experience. Psychoanalysis often disregards the actual texts and verbal context of a piece of
literature in favor of the Freudian and Lacanian ideas, which seek to find encrypted motifs in the
depths of every creation in order to reveal the author's unconscious mind. Nevertheless, the critiques
of psychoanalytic interpretation of literature claim that such interpretations focus on the content of
the text at the expense of the literary form and temporal dimension, which can reduce the literary
plots to lifeless machinations. Furthermore, psychoanalytic interpretation of a text may tell us less
about the author's unconscious mind and more about the...show more content...
It's a gambit even Yossarian might hesitate on. Yossarian's sinthome, which prevents him from
losing his mind completely, can be numerous things. It could be Yossarian 's insistence to survive
the war in spite of the constant attempts of nearly everyone around him to kill him. It could be his
fight for human decency in the face of the horror of war. Or, quite possibly, it could be his
struggle to prove to the big Other that he will surmount the catch 22. The war affected Heller
more than he was willing to admit at the beginning of his career; however, the more he wrote, the
more he was able to deal with his demons. As such, the real story of his war trauma slowly
unfolded. The war experience left Heller as a "tortured, funny, deeply peculiar human being"
(Blake, 2011). Heller's sinthome during the war, it seems, was his writing. His writing is his relief
as well. It 's his unraveling agent, and in that manner, it 's therapeutic. One of his roommates had
brought with him a typewriter, giving a means for Heller 's burning desires to relieve stress
through his writing. His distinguished career in writing may very well have stopped him losing his
mind in the harrowing nature of war (Blake, 2011). The best approach to succeed is to mortify, rule,
and put down others, an approach wonderfully exemplified in Captain Black 's never–ending
attempts to inspire individuals to expend themselves with envy or, as he puts it, "eat your

Psychoanalysis Of Hamlet's Mind

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